HELP - - - - Sciatic Nerve Relief

C

carolyn122162

Cathlete
My sciatic nerve has reared its ugly head. I first noticed the pain on Saturday thinking I had DOMS from B&G's. I soon realized that it wasn;t muscle pain I was feeling. It is so painful that I can hardly walk let alone workout. I tried to workout this morning and it felt like an electric shock shooting down my leg. I experienced this about 8 years ago and it seemed to have cleared up on its own within a few long weeks, I think.

Has anyone ever experienced this and how did you treat it? I am supposed to go on the road trip in July. I'm afraid if it doesn't get better I may have to cancel.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.
 
>
>My sciatic nerve has reared its ugly head. I first noticed the
>pain on Saturday thinking I had DOMS from B&G's. I soon
>realized that it wasn;t muscle pain I was feeling. It is so
>painful that I can hardly walk let alone workout. I tried to
>workout this morning and it felt like an electric shock
>shooting down my leg. I experienced this about 8 years ago and
>it seemed to have cleared up on its own within a few long
>weeks, I think.
>
>Has anyone ever experienced this and how did you treat it? I
>am supposed to go on the road trip in July. I'm afraid if it
>doesn't get better I may have to cancel.
>
>Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

I had this earlier this year. I iced it and went to the massage therapist. She too recomended icing. It was so painful I took a day off work. In about 5 days it was all gone. It was a slow process.
 
I feel your pain. Literally.

How to treat sciatic pain depends on what is causing it. There are so many different things that can cause sciatic pain, and if you treat the wrong cause, it can make it worse. If the cause is spinal (disc problems or what have you), the treatment will be different than if the cause is muscular (like piriformis syndrome).

I've struggled with piriformis syndrome for a couple of years now - it comes and goes. The piriformis muscle (at least MY piriformis muscle) has a tendency to go into spasm, and when this happens, it clamps down on my sciatic nerve and sends shooting pain down the back of my leg. ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch! For me, it took a good 6 months to get past, but even now it still rears its ugly head from time to time. I treat it with a combination of chiropractic care, massage therapy, stretching and strength training. And also not going too crazy on the CC workouts. ;)

I hope you feel better soon and are able to go on the RT!
 
I had three awful attacks of sciatica and I literally could not walk without excruciating pain in the butt and leg. I couldn't go to work for a couple of days and then hobbled to the subway and feared the trip home. I went to the chiropractor and it took a good three weeks to "begin" to feel better. Walking was very painful. I did upper body workouts and ab work during this time and didn't notice a change in my body (I've been working out for about 25 years). I blame all the high impact I did over the years on a daily basis and now I am more alert and do mostly low impact and if I feel the slightest twinge in the sciatic nerve I stop. I also put an ice pack on my back when I workout (with a velcro band around the waist to hold the ice pack). I think once you get it, you are prone to more attacks. I would try to be very careful in future when working out. Chiro really helped even though it took time. I understand without going for therapy, it can go away on its own but take more weeks.
I also would pop 4 ibuprophens at one time to ease the pain.
maryann
 
I had this when I was pregnant (double fun!) and what really helped me were some stretches in Leisa Hart's "Fit Mama" DVD. She has a stretch section and there are some specific stretches at the end just for sciatic nerve pain. They really helped me! So if it's a chronic problem, it might be worth getting the DVD so you can properly learn the stretch to ease it.

Odd suggestion, I know, but I'm putting my .02 cents in here because it really helped ease the pain for me. :)
 
I had that shooting pain the day after doing step. I felt it everytime I sat down and got up. When I described it to my friend, he said it was sciatica. I thought OMW! I thought only people in old folks home got that! LOL I took some advil, iced it and did some yoga later that night. The yoga helped releave the pain. It felt sooo good. Thankfully, the next day was my massage appointment. My therapist went straight to the spot where it hurt. She was able to relax those inflamed muscles. My sciatica pain was caused by p.f. from doing step. I stopped stepping for a week. I'm careful to stretch with yoga after a step workout now. Thankfully, that shooting pain hasn't returned. That shooting pain only lasted one day.

Hope you feel some relief soon!!!

Wendy
 
Thanks for all your advise.
Emily, I'm pretty sure it's caused by the piriformis muscle. I did B&G's floorwork on Friday. I think it was the fire hydrant move that got me. I actually felt soreness before I was done but just shrugged it off to instant DOMS. I've started to ice it. Hopefully this will help.

Debbie - I'll give the drops a try. At this point I'll try anything.
 
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